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Monday, June 30, 2008

The internet's a great old thing, you're having a random surf, and come across some afrodelic kraut funk, then realising that a good chunk of the Spill team will enjoy listening to it, you post it up along with a picture of a large waterfall...

Sunday, June 29, 2008

I'm amazed there's anyone out there that hasn't seen the amazing Labyrinth, with David Bowie as Jareth The Goblin King. The above clip shows one of the musical numbers from the film, called "Dance Magic Dance", fab!

Bowie also put a good turn in as Andy Warhol in the movie Basquiat (one of the best films ever made, and one of the best soundtracks ever - but that's for another post) - Bowie has gone from singing a song about Warhol, to playing him. Nice!

Bonus youtube clip; Flight Of The Conchord's tribute to the man himself called "Bowie's In Space", which has the great line "Hey Bowie, do you have one really funky sequined space suit?

I've very much enjoyed listening to all your 'magical' playlists on the balcony this afternoon. Some fantastic discoveries there. But just in case anyone is feeling a little 'spellbound' I thought I'd offer the counter curse to all this hocus pocus. I was born in '66 which makes me...ooooh... do the math... And grew up as a result with my ears firmly rooted in the disco and funk tradition perpetrated by Nile Rodgers and everything he touched, Mr Clinton, Chic, Sister Sledge, Earth Wind and Fire, the Whispers etc. etc. I therefore get very excited when I hear NEW disco sounds which have just been produced but which have their head and heart firmly rooted in the sounds of my adolescence. With another member of my family, we keep our ears to the ground for the next new-old disco track. We were enthralled when Modjo released 'Lady (Hear me tonight) as that's exactly the kind of new-old disco which gets my pulse racing. Even more so when I realised they'd sampled Chic's 'Soup for one' on the chord structure. We therefore christened any disco discoveries 'This year's Modjo' and, from time to time, will send each other our 'This year's Modjo'. The award has since gone to 'Starlight' by the Superman Lovers, 'Lola's Theme' by the Shapeshifters and 'This Year's Modjo' for 2008 is, without any question, 'Dance Free Night' by Brooklyn Funk Essentials. Pour yourself a brightly coloured cocktail and enjoy...

The fun for me about the RR blog is discovering new stuff or stumbling over something long forgotten. I'm not that interested in the final 10, given the capricious nature of the selection process. It seems to me that you could print the RR blog, give it to a blind monkey with a pin, and arrive at an equally hit or miss playlist each week. Despite this, the A-Z holds up remarkably well. A lot of popular contemporary artists are missing though (Coldplay, Keane, Snow Patrol, Moby). Not "cool" enough? Not the right theme?

Anyway, here's a playlist with 5 of my favorite missing artists; which of your favorites are missing in action?

Now we need some free software.Click here to get Audacity. Download & install this program.Launch Audacity and select “stereo mix” from the dropdown menu.In edit > preferences > audio I/O tab choose stereo and pick your recording quality settings in the quality tab.Now play your favorite playlist or podcast and hit the record button.Adjust your levels with the microphone slider.The edit menu will help you clean up your finished track such as removing any gaps at the beginning or end.

If you want to save your recording as an mp3 go here to download Lame 3.97 (free mp3 converter). Unzip this file & remember where you saved it. When you first export a file to mp3, Audacity will prompt you to find Lame on your computer (one time only).

Recently saw The Prestige, half magic, half occult, which we thought was very good. I never realised Bowie played Tesla until I posted this clip here, though. Most people's tracks this week are quite dark, mine are no exception..

General Science/Ish/Papa la bas, Conjure. Science meets seance. Kip Hanrahan's latin jazz with a badly behaved ghost..perhaps more suitable for the magic theme, so I've warmed it up again.

The Witch, by 25 cents. Nice, thrashy lo-fi track by one of NZ label Flying Nun's first woman-only bands, very obscure but worth a listen.

Possessed trumpet married to hard edged funk- just to complete the set of Miles Davis tracks, Sivad, by the Miles Davis group edits three fragments together- the ending of a live version of Directions, followed by a studio fragment of Honky Tonk, and then a live Honky Tonk.

We all like to have a bet on what will be this week's sho-in, don't we? There's one song towering head and gory locks above the rest of them this week, and that's Jarvis's Black Magic. It's a Ziggy-esque miracle of glam splendour and I urge, beg, nay, implore those of you who don't know it to give it a whirl. Just make sure there are no fragile objects within reach which could be smashed by the glam rock poses you will be mysteriously compelled to strike...

We've not done spooky stories on the blog yet, have we? Sure you've got some spine chillin' ones. Here's mine: I was strolling through a Canterbury housing estate one Halloween evening (as you do) towards 6 o'clock. Normal, red-bricked houses. Pots of geraniums in the gardens. Surbubia in all its glorious banality. Not a soul around. I was suddenly aware of an awful sense of foreboding and began to feel very frightened unaccountably. I looked around and there was no reason whatsoever for the awful terror suddenly gripping me. My sense of street cred didn't quite allow me to break into a run. But I stepped up the pace and got out of there very quickly. Enquiries with local pals very quickly revealed that the housing estate was built on a site where witches were burned in the middle ages. Ta-DAAAAHHH!

Friday, June 27, 2008

some very interesting tunes for this subject..I love Morphines potion and I don't quite know if a raindance is magic ....BUT I think Past Seven Days only did one 7" so it's in.Fatboy Slims Latin Ska Acid Breakbeat version of Magic Carpet Ride joins the Baggies and My Computer on a 'You may have to have been there to enjoy them vibe...'Mariee Sioux and Get Well Soon I know nothing about but like the songs..hope you enjoy...Time to listen to the new podcast me thinks...

Couldn't get my head round magic today, so opted to waste my time in a different way instead - namely by trying to rid myself of the albatross of temptation that's been on me since Blimpy's first podcast. So here, then, is my first effort. I really enjoyed making it, even though it terrified me, and I really hope you enjoy some or all of it.

And now the caveats. It is VERY creaky, as I repeatedly point out during the thing itself (I apologise too much, sorry). The sound levels are rotten, my mic is terrible, there are little plosive puffs of air all over the place, I 'um' and 'ah' like a good-un and I am well aware that three songs early on are almost inaudible. I don't know why that last one should be but if you turn them up REALLY LOUD then you can hear a bit and I didn't have the heart to re-record it all....

Still, in spite of all that, I invite your thoughts, your criticisms and your advice. Either way, I'm doing another one soon, with less mistakes, so you're stuck with me.

WARNING: This podcast contains some sweary talk which made me feel very big and clever. Sorry.

OK, I know that this is going to be massively contentious but there really are albums that are so earth shatteringly important that when you look back you can see how they changed music forever.

Most of them are hugely well known, and deservedly so in many cases, but others tend to be only appreciated in hindsight.

I am thinking here of albums that make other people listen and think "wow, I am going to have to start doing that sort of thing" or they change the way an artist in regarded by the business and the fans or they are albums that just do something so new that they start a movement or they encapsulate a moment so well that they almost become the moment, a shorthand for what was going on at the time.

My nominations here are pretty much all well known, but I think that they do fulfil at least one of my self imposed criteria in some way, and none are recent either. I am pretty much sticking to the rock world too, because if I was going to include everything then the list would be massive.

I reckon you could do a list for Jazz, Soul, Reggae, Hiphop etc separately.

The Dylan one is where he first plugged it in and changed guitar pop forever"Born to run" created Springsteen as the artist we have nowDSOTM brought Pink Floyd to world domination and opened the door to zillions of copyists and let prog hit the big timeLed Zep 4 created stadium rock"Are you experienced" encapsulated the fusion of blues, psychedelia and rock in the 60s. Cream may have been there first but Jimi did it best"Liege and lief" invented folk rock"Nevermind" brought grunge to the world, OK not the first grunge album, or the grungiest but the one everyone knows - inadvertently giving us Nickelback, oh well no one's perfect!The first Roses album is where Brit Pop began"Unknown pleasures" gave us the right to be miserable and showed us one way how to get out of punk"London calling" fused punk, reggae, rock 'n' roll and gave us the other way to get out of punk's impasse

Summer has finally arrived and the weather has turned sunny and hot. Salad time! My lunch break disappeared in a cloud of smoke today (too much on) and so I rushed around the corner to pick up something quick from my favourite Italian deli. They were selling a rather good chicken salad and, as I de-constructed the recipe in my head, I thought you lot might just like it. It's a very good way of using up any leftovers from sunday chicken dinner - if anyone can eat sunday chicken dinner in this heat!

Here goes:

- Pieces of cold chicken cut off your leftover roast

- Carrots and green beans cooked so they're still crisp and crunchy

Put whole lot in a large tupperware.

Mix up some olive oil with some pesto and pour over.

Chop up some fresh basil and add this.

Slice up half a lemon and add.

Add a handful of pine kernals.

Shake up the whole lot and put the lid on. Leave in the fridge all day so that the pesto, lemon and basil can work its way though the whole lot.

Anyone else got any good mixed salad recipes? It's just too hot to eat anything else at the mo!

This was my birthday present from Malcolm--it's a picture of 4 little birds, a sequel to the Bob Marley song.

For all of us getting on in scores of years, here are Satchel Paige's Rules for Staying Young...

1. "Avoid fried meats which angry up the blood." 2. "If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts." 3. "Keep the juices flowing by jangling around gently as you move." 4. "Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society — the social ramble ain't restful." 5. "Avoid running at all times." 6. "And don't look back — something might be gaining on you."

So, after a long trek to Dublin and back this weekend ('cos Ireland can't seem to have more than one of ANYTHING, and that one almost always has to be six hours drive away in the capital) I rather missed out on all the lovely kissing action. Which is a shame, as it looked like a good stint, so good work.

Anyway.

I just wanted to share a song with you (consider it my gift to Mr McFlah) by a band I've been listening to increasingly much this last week or two. Now, if you can get past the fact that the singer has BLATANTLY nicked Conor Bright Eyes' schtick, I reckon there's a lot going on here. Bit of Arcade Fire. Bit of 60s R&B. Bit of ramped up gypsy punk. And, to top it all, they're named after one of Shakespeare's very best plays - Titus Andronicus (seriously, I never know why Titus gets hated on so much. Sure, its unpolished, but its a big budget horror flick. Gore! Rape! Dismemberment! Scheming! Children baked in a pie! What's not to love?). OK, so it may sound like it was recorded in a bin, but when the handclaps kick in and the whole band chant 'your life is over' I think it is ridiculously fun.

So here, then, is 'Titus Andronicus' by Titus Andronicus. You can purchase their rather fine album, 'The Airing of Grievances', here too. Enjoy.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

The first song I posted in the Kissing topic was Kissy Face by the Downchild Blues Band, a staple on the Canadian blues scene for forty years. But I don't know if the group is known very well outside of Canada and I couldn't find the song linked anywhere so I thought I'd just post a link to the song. 08 Kissy Face.m4a If you like the song and want to know more about the band, check out their website at http://www.downchild.com/The band has gone through many lineup changes over the years with over 100 musicians passing through the band over the years. The glue holding it together through the years has been founder Donnie Walsh who is also the primary song writer.There is a great video clip on Youtube of the band in their hayday performing with jazz vibraphonist Peter Appleyard. It's an instrumental number with leads from Appleyard and pianist Jane Vasey who tragically passed away in 1982 from leukemia. Vasey was a great blues pianist. You'll find the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmJcTUoQb8EAfter Vasey died, the band didn't do much for five years as Walsh, who was living with Vasey, lost interest while mourning her passing. After that hiatus he got the band back in form again and they still perform today.Great band! Listen to the clip. Enjoy!

Happy Fête de la musique everyone! Can't think of a nicer bunch of melomanes I would wish that too... I see an explanation is needed. The (then) French Minister for Culture, Jack Lang (I hear you say - French? Jack? Lang? Mey wee. C'est comme ça!) had the rather fine and dandy idea about 20 years ago of making the longest day of the year - 21st of June - into an official national celebration of all things musical. So today you are literally allowed to stick a piece of paper over your comb, stand on a street corner and make any noise you choose. It's allowed! In practice, of course, any group playing any kind of music (from madrigals to modern jazz) will be out in the streets tonight playing their hearts out. Well known-groups give free concerts (Darce - we had Bertignac here one year) in the larger cities and the place to be is Paris where there are REALLY big concerts. I will not be torturing the Alsacians with my fiddle playing but will venture out into the streets tonight for a cold beer on some street corner in the search of some magical moments. We'll have 30° degrees and no rain so looks like it'll be a good evening...

Moving on to the serious stuff, this week's theme has thrown up some real beauties. I've listened to your lists and was nearly discouraged from doing my own - they're so brilliant. Particularly Ejays. And then I thought, what the hell. In for a penny. Another day another dollar. I love all of these songs. Hope you like them. Bisous. FP.

(OK so I cheated - there's 11. But New Order's Perfect Kiss is one of my favourite favourite ever tracks....)

Friday, June 20, 2008

Loads of goodies over on t'Spill this week. A couple I thought I'd share.If you like long noodling blues by white guys with long hair, then 'One long kiss' is for you. From the No Introduction Necessary compilation album, this track has Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Albert Lee, Big Jim Sullivan, Clem Cattini, & Chris Hughes.Then there's the wonderful Kate & Anna McGarrigle from way back when. 'Kiss & Say Goodbye' is from their eponymous album. Not a dud track on it.

I know that Hollywood musicals are not to everyone's taste but I love them. I grew up watching these films with my Mum and I have never lost my love for them. Cyd Charisse was simply the best. She was the greatest female dancer that Hollywood ever produced.

These clips show her grace, elegance, beauty, sexiness and her amazing talent.

1 Pony up! ‘I heard you got action’ I think you know were they are going with this one2 The Wave Pictures ‘Kiss Me’ I love this even though actually hitting a note is a far off mystery.3 Jens Lekman ’The Cold Swedish Winter’ beautiful song4 Bliss ’Kissing’ my come down track of choice back in the day…Track one of saneshanes simple beats social cd.5 Monta ’Kiss Goodnight’6 Casiotone for the painfully alone ‘New Years Kiss’ genius track I love it..most people don't!7 The Glove ‘Punish me with Kisses’ I do have the Fat Bob vocal too.8 The Kills ‘Kissy Kissy’ sounds just like the kills.. nuff said.9 Marianne Faithfull ‘Kissin’ Time’ Hark, is that Blur in the background?10 The Hidden Cameras ‘Music is my Boyfriend’ “I kissed his ugly gangly greens, he swallowed my pee” don’t get lyrics like that in many a pop song.11 Head ‘Let’s Snog’ from a snog on the rocks “let’s snog like two wild dogs” look it takes me back...and how good for the theme...all this soppy stuff...euggghhh.12 Lord Sear ‘Ya mouth stink’ after all that... have you been tongue kissing a basketball?Pony Up!The Wave PicturesJens LekmanBlissMontaCasiotone for the Painfully AloneThe GloveThe KillsMarianne FaithfullThe Hidden CamerasHeadLord Sear

Thursday, June 19, 2008

ok so music can be bad for your health.I managed to ping the tendon in my right shoulder looking for ARE Weapons Sunday night..why can't I have things neatly in A-Z order like DsD eh?Anyway it hurt a bit until the morning, then it froze- THE PAIN- has been pretty bad..and so boring not being able to line up an LP for company...so I got injected with some kind of potion/poison yesterday and now it's painfull but movable.I can use a mouse to finish off this...hope you enjoy....

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

There's been a few mentions of last.fm on the blog in the last couple of days. For those of you who don't know, it's a sort of social networking site for music lovers with a genuinely worldwide )and very diverse) membership. It works by 'scrobbling' the music you play on your PC and then recommending other similar music that you might like. It also links you with potential 'friends' - i.e. people who have been playing the same artists as you. I've been signed up to last.fm for about 16 months now and although I can't say that I've made too many rewarding contacts, I have been introduced to such wonderful acts as Sufjan Stevens, Death Cab For Cutie and The Decembrists - to name but a few.

ejaydee, mnemonic and snadfrod are already members - mnemonic posts as mnemosene and for the same reason (i.e. our 'real' names had already been taken) I post as TalkingScarlet (fp will get the reference!). I've just set up a group on last.fm dedicated to the 'Spill - I've called it 'Readers Recommend - The Overspill' - and I even had the cheek to use the 'old ipod; picture as the group's avatar. blimpy, if you'd like me to change the name and/or remove the picture, I'll gladly do so - I realise that I should have checked before using your idea/work.

So, if any other regular 'Spillers want to join in the fun, you'll be more than welcome - you can find out exactly what we're all listening to and share recommendations in a very easy, straight-forward way.

There's a real atmosphere of anticipation over here tonight. Apologies to anyone who thought that The 'Spill was the one place where you could escape the football... I think you would actually have to buy an igloo at the North Pole for that. There was a report on TV this lunchtime which had me falling off the sofa laughing. It was 'our man in Milan' taking the temperature among the locals. They wheeled on the Italian equivalent of the Muppets' Stadler and Waldorff (the two old guys) who sighed into the camera and said how tired they thought the Italian team were looking... And then they interviewed a young guy who said he really thought France deserved to win. I can't see the BBC getting away with that...can you? You"ve got to admire their patriotism... If I throw open the windows (which implies I'm willing to stand the siberian temperatures we're having over here (gel, Nilpferd?) then I'll hear the neighbours yelling. Think I'll join in and I'll probably just hear Ejay joining in from Sao Paolo. TV dinner on tray? Check. Chilled beer? Check. OK guys. We're ready. Here's a few fitba' related songs I found in the oracle...

I love Malcolm's feet in the summertime in lo-top chucks. And Isaac decided to go with the knee-high red socks. Not for everyone, but with legs that shapely, he can pull off just about any look.

I have 6710 items in my iTunes Library, and sometimes I forget what I have. Some days I'll play a game of typing a random word in (often provided by Malcolm) and then listening to whatever comes up. Thanks to Toffeeboy for providing inspiration for this one...the word was "sun." I thought it would be a fun game for us 'Spillers to pick a word and type it into our own libraries, and see what different lists we come up with. I whittled it down to five, and here they are... Anyone else?

And...inspired by Blimpy's podcast--a list of 5 songs chosen at random by my iTunes shuffle. Who knew THAT song was in there? It's very hard not to edit yourself to make a perfect playlist. Actually, I like the way this one turned out, anyway...

Ordinarily, a playlist on noise, or at least of noise, would be one I'd leap at, but what with the weekend I was about to have, and it turning up late, it just wasn't the week for me to think about it. Bugger.

On Friday, I went to see a Jandek performance. It was his first in Ireland, only his second ever solo show, and was held in a modern art gallery, with seats strictly limited to 100. An intriguing figure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jandek), this was something of a must-see, but it's really hard to describe the show itself. He came on, played about 8 songs over an hour, and left, facts which in no way capture the intensity of the evening. It felt like I was glued to the seat, in the best possible way. His interaction with the audience was limited to sitting in front of it (not even a casual glance!), but the music was so spellbinding, we just sat in rapt silence. In retrospect, it was quite an odd night, but definitely a one-off in my experience of shows. I can't find any videos of him solo, but this live one with a band should give some indication of what he's like (and make a lie of this post's title):

However, this was really just the appetiser to the weekend's main event, Mr. Leonard Cohen. Well, what can I say? It was, let me repeat, Leonard Cohen. Live. Saturday night, open-air, and quite stunning. It was the middle of a three-night engagement, and for a 73 year old to play three three-hour sets on consecutive nights is pretty damn impressive. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty impressive (sorry, been binging on Curb Your Enthusiasm boxsets this week). Admittedly, it would have been nice to hear some more of the older songs, but there were moments of exquisite beauty throughout, particularly Suzanne, and the video below (from the first night) which doesn't do justice to how beautiful this song was wafting across a pindrop-silent crowd in near darkness. It was also interesting to see the audience reaction to the lyrics of "Democracy", and a fun crowd-pleaser for Mr. Cohen to note that after last week's referendum result, "Ireland continues to bewilder the world". The show also gave me the full set of now having seen Jeff Buckley, John Cale and Leonard Cohen perform "Hallelujah" live. Even more impressive than his stamina was noticing how dignified the man is, he really seems a remarkably genuine gentleman, treating his audience with respect and affection, quietly shaming so many other performers a fraction of his age. A truly memorable evening.

I was supposed to be at Prince tonight, but that show was cancelled. Boo and hiss. Next up, Melt Banana, Sunburned Hand Of Man, and a jaunt to Manchester (where I've never been) for My Bloody Valentine (loud is the new loud?), so if anyone knows anywhere decent to go in Manchester, all suggestions gratefully accepted.

Monday, June 16, 2008

In a couple of weeks I will be performing one of my favourite annual tasks - namely manning the PA at my local Primary School's Summer Fair (note: it's a Fair not a Fayre - I wouldn't do it if it were the latter). As well as doing the usual lost child announcements and letting people know that the draw for the 'name the teddy bear' event is about to take place, I get to play three hour's worth of music - and they leave it to me to decide what to play. I know - with my reputation!

I have a shortlist of favourites that always work wonders but I'm looking for fresh ideas this year and you can probably guess what's coming next...

What would you play?

I need things with a big summer feel to them. Songs that will make people think I want to stay here and listen to this while little Alfie/Rosie spends another 10p trying to throw a hoop round the neck of a large cuddly tiger which we don't really want in the house (or, more likely, which we donated to the school last week because we were desperate to get rid of it). It doesn't have to be something well known, just something which will make people sit up and listen (and maybe even swing their hips a bit).

This one wins the prize for ease. I'm off colour this week end and so Him Indoors made this for dinner and it's one of the best and easiest recipes I know. It's based on the principle of cooking fish in a foil envelope - papillote - which is very healthy and easy to do.

Here's the recipe:

- Lay a small piece of sea bass on a large rectangle of tinfoil per envelope.

- Pull up the sides so you can put things in.

- Chuck in 5 or 6 whole cherry tomatoes, 4 or 5 chunks of lemon - cut into segments with the skin left on, 5 or 6 shallot bulbs just peeled and halved and a whole sprig of fresh rosemary

- Douse the whole lot with olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.

- Close up the envelope by scrunching the sides and stick in the middle of the oven at 190° for 20 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.

- Open and serve with white rice or pasta. You can pour the 'juice' from the envelope over the rice before adding a knob (tee hee) of butter.

Friday, June 13, 2008

So in case you read this in the morning please post my list on the Mothership.

We start by welcoming the noise with PE, and Cee-Lo makes it an art. I tried to avoid songs that were the "sound of" something but I love that Cassius song. The Abdullah Ibrahim should be right up Nilpferd's alley, and Lamb sounds a lot like a something Bjork would do. It Sounded Like a Roc samples The Creator Has A Master Plan and something else I don't remember.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Cubanismo, Salsa Pilon. Booty shaker from Jesus Alemany and his band.Max Brennan, 1300 Milliseconds of brass. Trippy big beat builds to a brass-tastic send-off.Orchestra Harlow, Freak off. Used a fragment of this in my quiz. Extremely dirty horns. Very funky.Fanfare Ciocarlia, Balaseanca de 8 Ore. Moldovian dance music. It helps if you've had a few Tuicăs (plum schnapps) beforehand.

Adding the much sampled Cannonball Adderley:Walk Tall from Country Preacher, with intro by Rev. Jesse Jackson;a fragment of the former which I'm sure forms the basis of a mid 90's hip hop track;Hummin', from Country Preacher. There's a great Large Professor mix of this on one of those remix jazz project albums. The original is still pretty cool. Cannonball's brother Nat on cornet, Joe Zawinul on keyboards.

Some extra tracks on the RR noise theme:DJ Krush, Jingle JangleKip Hanrahan, ..something about his anger.. Brilliant, languid piece in which a neighbour's stereo system is the catalyst for a couple to explore their feelings for one another...Minus 8, The sweetest sounds.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

If any of you are readers of the AV Club (and if not, you should be) you might have seen this already, but it was quite a fun quiz so I thought I'd engage in a bit of shameless plagiarism and post it over here (they can't complain since they took it out of a book anyway...).I managed a fairly pathetic two fully correct and two half right - I'm expecting a much better performance from the rest of you...